Thursday, March 31, 2011

3/24:So another big turnout on the hill last Thursday, and a bonanza day for PRs. By my count a full 50 percent of the 32 starters recorded PRs, in addition to the three newcomers on the hill who established times to beat. Of course, this was the first full daylight run in months, and the mild (but not cold) temps combined with the lack of wind and ice were also factors. Still a definite sign that the Fort Collins Trail Running Crew is rounding into good shape as we approach the spring racing season.

* Of course, when Jenn Malmberg hits a new PR, it generally means a new FKT for the women on the hill: 34:59. Steph and Sarah are knocking on the door though, so the fight for bragging rights could be interesting here in the next couple of months, especially as I continue to try (in vain) to stoke their competitive fires.

Almost as exciting is the 2011 streakers list. We are now down to four perfect-attendees, so congrats on that Alex May, Celeste, Slush and Pete.

Of course, some of last week's times could be way off, as I received them on a scanned copy of a dog-eared scrap of paper scrawled with a pen that barely worked. Please email or leave a comment if you see errors in my timekeeping.

4/7:A record turnout (I think) of 35, with 22 of those setting personal records, or running for the first time. Good stuff again.

Perfect-streakers list remains at three with Pete, Slush and Alex May all in attendance tonight. Celeste, Cat and Brian are waiting in the wings with just one missed session on the year.

A quick note on equivalencies: We have a very rough Towers to marathon estimate of 33 minutes: 3 hour marathon. Senor Slusher ran 2:53:37 (over 10 min PR) in Rhode Island today (4/16) off a 31:00 Towers time last week. Based on his 31 we were predicting a 2:49 for Scott (his A goal), but he was safely under his B goal of 2:55. So congrats Scott, clearly you are quite the hill monster, and of course a speedy marathoner too.

As a point of comparison, my 2:36 from New Orleans in February is supposed to equate to a 27:xx Towers time, so obviously a few more data points are needed to smooth the outliers, but until then I guess the data are suggesting I am more suited to the roads than the hills. We'll have a few more data points from Boston on Monday and then May 1 we'll have all the FoCo marathon data to include, by which time we should have a more accurate equivalency picture.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Tuesday - AM: 10 miles intervals. City Park group: 3x800 w/20 sec rest, 2 mile, mile on/off (lampposts), mile: (2:50, 2,46, 2:39), 11:16 (5:45, 5:31), 5:35, 5:13. Wasn't sure how I wanted to run these, so went with the flow and picked things up as the workout progressed. Ran with Chris M, which helped keep things honest, and started feeling decent by the second mile of the two-mile interval. Despite a general feeling of lethargy, I had a nice background hum of strength and a feeling that I had extra gears if needed, even on the last 5:13 mile. Always hard to get those 800s cranking first thing in the morning.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') tempo. 1:14:12. Out easy in 41:25, back in 32:47 (7:55, 6:42, 6:36, 5:49, 5:44). Kyle, Scott, Sarah and Tim in attendance this week. Felt like we took a step backwards with regards to temps, which were well below freezing, but at least there was very little wind. Wanted to keep things somewhat under control for this one, given the Antelope Island 50k in two days, but went a little faster than anticipated after giving Scott 30 seconds at the turnaround, as I answered nature's call, and then having Scott blaze the trail the whole way back (for a 90 second back-half PR). I finally caught him coming down onto the last dam, and then settled in for the last mile and half. Aside from the 5:45 start and the asphalt surface, this has become one of my favorite workouts of the week. Good company, challenging route and it feels like it's over before I'm properly awake.Noon - 5 miles (1,000') easy: Falls long

Friday - 5 miles easy on the bike paths from Rick and Rae Jean's house in Kaysville.

Saturday - 32.5 miles (4,000'). 3:47. Antelope Island 50k.

Sunday - 8.5 miles easy on neighborhood streets in Vegas. Felt okay after the first couple of creaky miles, but the pavement and dreary surroundings made this an exercise in near pointlessness. Couldn't take any more, so quit at just over an hour.

Total: 96.5 (11,700')

In Vegas until Friday, so will look to get into the desert a bit and explore some of the canyons in and around the Red Rock/Blue Diamond area. Hoping to find some time to get up Mt Charleston, but seems unlikely considering I brought work with me.

Anyway, hopefully I can keep a lid on the volume this week and then again next week as I get ready for American River. The thought of running a fast marathon and then jumping on the trails for another 24 miles of rolling has me nervous enough that I should be able to keep things under control. Just heard that Lake Sonoma has been cancelled, which means that there could well be a few guys switching to AR, making an already stout field that much more interesting. Guess we'll find out in due course on that one.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Having run Salida 10 minutes quicker than in 2010 two weeks ago, I was hopeful that I could put up another course PR this weekend in a 50k, this time on the fantastically scenic outcropping of mountains lifting out of The Great Salt Lake, forming what is known as Antelope Island - a place where the buffalo roam and the antelope graze. Even better than the fauna are the dawn views of the stunning Wasatch off to the west of the island - alone worth the price of admission. But there was also some racing to be done.

With Salida still in my legs and the American River 50 upcoming, I was a little unsure about racing this one too hard. I knew that the winner from the Bear 100, Mike Foote, would be on the start line but beyond that there weren't too many other names that I recognized from the start list. I was hopeful therefore that I might be able to cruise this one and still come away with a win.

From the gun, I was on the deck being trampled after a somewhat inglorious drop of my EFS Liquid Shot flask and subsequent stumble to the ground after trying to scoop my fuel from the ground in stride. In my rugby days, I think I would have pulled it off, as scooping a rugby ball while on the move is a skill that is frequently practised, but it's been a while. In the process of falling, I dropped my water bottle under me and landed my ribs hard on it in exactly the same spot as I bruised them last year whilst coming down off of Pikes Peak. Another set of bruised left ribs as I sit here writing this. Sweet. Wheeze. After the stampeding, I was able to get to my feet, shake off the fall, and get on with the 32-mile task at hand.

Last year, Scott Dickey set an uncomfortably hard pace up the opening 600-foot climb; this year, thankfully, the pace was very casual which allowed for some good banter and a gentle warm up. Christian Johnson, who paced me in expert fashion through the final 25 miles of the Wasatch 100 last year, was up in the lead pack of five or six guys as we climbed through the first couple of miles. He made a few introductions, singling out Seth Wold as a 'fast marathoner,' while Jake Krong introduced himself as a newcomer to the SLC area, just as we were starting to ratchet up the tempo toward a more race-like effort. Mike Foote and another whose name I didn't catch were also in the pack.

After a quick wrong turn - approved by Christian who mapped the course, ahmm - we cut cross country back onto the jeep track that wound around a ledge before starting the descent down on the connector section between the two loops that together make up the 25k lap that done twice makes up the 50k course. On the steepest section of the lap, a short but sharp 300-400 foot climb up to the Elephant Head aid station, I could feel that my climbing legs were not with me. Six miles in, and this little grunter felt way harder than it should have.

Seth (making things look way too easy), me (realizing that I was in for a long day), Jake, and Christian in third and fourth. Photo: Greg Norrander.

By this point Seth, Jake and I had created some separation on Christian and Mike, and it looked like it would be the three of us racing for the podium places. Seth and I had mainly been taking turns with the lead and all three of us seemed on board and comfortable with the pace. I led us through the switchbacks at the far end of the Elephant Head loop, and I could tell that Seth and Jake were still running well within themselves. While I wasn't laboring up this climb, which is very generously graded (long switchbacks), I continued to feel like the climbing was more work than it should have been.

Connecting back up to the first loop, I let Jake and Seth gap me a bit as the grade steepened. I was able to catch up quickly as things flattened out, but by this point 11-12 miles in, I was beginning to feel like I was in for a grind of a second lap. Finishing up the rolling last few miles of the first lap on the return side of the first loop back to the turnaround at the start/finish, Jake assumed the lead and upped the tempo a touch - maybe feeling Seth and I out a bit. This work actually felt good and I was enjoying the increased blood flow that accompanied the faster pace, which gave me some encouragement that my legs might finally be ready and up to the task of racing the second lap.

We hit the turnaround, after the long downhill cruiser into the finish area, in 1:49 which I think was a minute faster than last year. On the climb back up for round two, I knew immediately that I was in trouble. Jake and Seth kept the effort level right where it had been for the last few miles, and despite the feeling that my legs had opened up a touch through the rollers of the last couple of miles, I just couldn't get them firing on any kind of sustained climb. I hung on for the first half of the climb, but soon made the executive decision that I just wasn't going to be able to hold this pace without an inglorious implosion long before the finish. And so I let them go.

By the top of the climb, Jake and Seth had 45-60 seconds on me. I figured I might be able to pick them back up on the flatter/downhill stuff, but it wasn't to be. After holding out hope for a few miles, it became increasingly clear - on this course with wide open, sweeping views - that they were gone.

Knowing by Elephant Head at mile 21-22 that the racing was essentially done, I dropped down into training mode and started thinking about American River and the fact that I will need to be careful with the mileage and effort over the next couple of weeks if I want to be at all competitive there. Flat legs again and there is no way I'll be competing.

Coming back around toward the finish with three or four miles to go, after passing probably 100 people in the 25k race ("on your left," "coming up behind you," "on your right, "right behind you guys," "nice work"....), I caught sight of Seth five minutes or so ahead, which was closer than I thought he would be at this stage. However, with the proliferation of 25k runners between he and I, it was unclear if Jake was ahead or behind him. In the vain hope that I might be able to pick up second, I increased the tempo for the final 20-25 minutes, but it wasn't to be.

I ended up coming in a touch under 3:48, which was a few seconds quicker than last year (in comparable conditions), but way off Jake's new course record of 3:38, which given the 4,000 feet of climb, 4000-5000' of altitude, and long course (32-32.5 miles) is pretty impressive (at least to me). Seth - a 2:22 road marathoner - also finished way under my time from last year (3:43).

Clearly, I need to be a little careful as I get ready for American River, which is something of a goal race. I didn't feel great at Salida, but came away satisfied with my run. Yesterday on Antelope Island it was a grind pretty much the whole morning, which tells me that it's time to take things a little easier for the next couple of weeks - a mini taper in the middle of my build for Western States. Hopefully that way I can run well at AR50, while also recharging the batteries a bit before the last six or seven weeks of work before Squaw.

Elsewhere on the island, Coloradoans Dan Vega and Dylan Bowman held up their ends of the bargain with impressive wins in the 100- and 50-mile races. Dan beat Mr.100 himself (Meltzer) in the inaugural 100, while Dylan reset Burch's 6:30 course record from last year with a zippy 6:15. Both these guys look to have found good early season form - and both will be running at Leadville in August. Put them both in your picks for the top five. Defening Leadville champ Duncan Callahan also had a good run in the 50, finishing in 6:30 or so.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Monday - Noon: 8.5 miles (800') easy. Blue Sky TH to Arthur's TH and back. Nice and mellow. Felt pretty good for the most part. Still a little lethargic, but really no soreness from Salida.PM: 5 miles (1,100') easy. Falls loop long.

Tuesday - AM: 9 miles intervals. Met with Jane's group for her City Park/Cemetery workout: mile, 3x fartlek mile, mile. Wasn't expecting great things so just cruised for the most part, but definitely wanted to make sure I got some leg turnover going this week: 5:43, 5:49, 5:55, 5:52, 5:20. Rest between each was 2 - 5 minutes.

Apparently I missed the Ides of March toga memo. Jane Welzel (third from left, back row) organizes year round Tuesday workouts. Longer intervals at City Park/Cemetery through the winter, then Tuesday Night Track (TNT) from May. This is always a fun group (that hits 30-40 in the summer) with a good spread of paces. Jane, a five time OT Marathon qualifier, is a wealth of running knowledge and has a ton of workouts up her sleeve. She probably has 10 different mile routes (all within .03) in City Park alone.

Thurs- AM: 10.5 miles (1,400') tempo. 1:13:32. Good group this week for the "Oh my God it's early" hill tempo run on Centennial. In attendance were Sarah, Slush, Tim, Matthew and Alex (a record number since I've been doing these runs). Out easy in 41:39, back in 31:50 chasing down Matthew and Tim who went a little harder going out (7:30, 6:19, 6:33, 5:49, 5:39).PM: 7.5 miles easy with the trail running group. Come join us: Thursday at 6:00 pm alternating week to week between an easy 6-7 mile loop around Pineridge (followed by pot luck beers and tucker), and the Towers time trial from the Soderberg TH at Horsetooth. Next week we're on The Hill.

Thursday Social Regulars. All pics: Scott Slusher.

Dogs Welcome. Mary, Gus, Joselyne.

Fresh off a Towers PR last week, Cat rocks a descent.Mainly a flat circuit around Pineridge, however there are a couple of mini hills.The FCTR shirts were a good choice for St Paddy's Day. Mary, Celeste, Cat, Slush, Chris. Always front and center. Sarah, Celeste, Nobby, Alex.

Sat - 35 miles (6,400') long. 5:40. I don't think I would have chosen to run 35 miles with a butt load of climbing today, but as this was the first annual 'March Mileage Madness' run (or 'Triple Dick' as Marie prefers) I certainly didn't want to miss out on the excitement. A total of 31 runners took on one of the three course options (10, 23, 35 mile), with just a small contingent opting for the Big Boys outing. Driving down to the start at Alex's place, I passed the 7am start group who were making their way around the southeast side of the reservoir (which we were circumnavigating as part of the route). I ended up starting solo at 7:55, approximately 45 minutes behind the rest of the 34-mile starters.

As is typical for me on runs like this, I was very much in one-gear mode and content just to plug along, enjoy the morning and get around in one piece. I ended up catching up to the lead group of Pete, Drew and Sam on top of Arthurs and then cruised on at my morning's pace for the remaining 15 miles. This was a fun route in that it was a complete circumnavigation of the reservoir (with some contrived silliness added on in Horsetooth/Lory). Coming back around the east side of the reservoir heading south to the finish, it was certainly satisfying to check out the three-summit route that I had earlier knocked off on foot. Started getting a little tired coming down to Maxwell, but that was mainly because the end was nigh and I was ready for a beer. Fun times BBQing, drinking and hanging out after at Alex's place. We're a lucky bunch to have such a great community of runners and such an awesome trail network here in The Fort. More here.

Pete's take on the Horsetooth Circumnavigation: 35 miles and 6,400 feet of climbing.

Sun: 10 miles (1,300') easy. Bluesky TH to Arthurs, with small loop up and around Mill Creek Link. Saw everyone and their brother out this morning, including Marie and Karen, Bryan, Rob, and Mike and Shannon.

Total: 111.5 miles (15,300')

So another one in the books and another step closer to the summer racing season. Got both my faster turnover sessions in again this week, although went pretty easy on Tuesday considering the marathon three days prior, but all the same I feel like I am training a little wiser than last year by switching things up a bit and not just churning out endless days in the hills. Hopefully the slightly tweaked training philosophy will yield results come June.

Went close to six hours on Saturday, which is just about where I want to be for American River (with an additional 15 miles covered of course) and that felt relatively comfortable. I wasn't exactly jumping out of bed on Sunday, but the 10 recovery miles I did do felt fine. I would have liked to have run for an extra hour, but income taxes were calling my name and I've decided to take things a little easier leading up to the Antelope Island 50k next weekend so I can hopefully run hard there.

Lots of Pikes-related chatter starting to brew over at GZ's place with general registration opening this week. Kind of bummed to be missing out this year, but that's alright. I'll be back next year to hopefully take a crack at beating MC if he can go yet one more year as King of the Hill. However, I think the Spaniard (Jordi), Daryn or A.N.Other with a good run could finally have his number this year.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Mon - AM: 11.5 miles (2,500') easy. 38e - Bluesky - Towers - Secret Trail - Westridge - Rock - Audra - Southridge - home long way. Cold and dank out. Procrastinated on getting out the door, but convinced myself eventually. Cold until I started up Towers, then all was well with the world.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') hills w/Slushtenstein. To HTH 5 mile and back on Centennial. Out in 39:55, back in 35:40 (7:38, 7:10, 7:27, 6:57, 6:27). Ran with Scott the whole way.PM: 10 miles (2,100') Towers. 37:02. Warmed up with three to Sawmill, then ran steady to catch up with Cat who I ran with from Carey Springs to help her push out a PR. Beautiful evening out. Last stretch of Towers was still icy.

Sun: 15 miles (3,700'). 2:35. Southridge - Audra - Horsetooth summit - Westridge - Mill Creek - Loggers - Sawmill - Valley - Towers - Stout - Spring Creek - Falls - home long. Woke up early and got out the door before I had time to think about bailing on the run. The legs felt slow but generally pretty good. I was up on top of Horsetooth before I was even really awake - almost dreamlike. Working up the hill I had been sitting in a cloud of fog, but on top of the rock the early morning sun was burning strong, a couple hundred feet above the rolling mist. The rock was a little sketchy, encrusted with ice, so I had to be super careful getting up, but up on top the views of the socked-in valleys and canyons below were sensational. I couldn't help but release a primal yelp. The rest of the run was a bit of a slog, but then that's the purpose of getting out on a run like this the day after a hard long effort. Got to get out there and work through some leg fatigue so it hopefully feels a little easier on race day at, say, mile 80. Home for a serving of Ultragen followed by a huge serving of bacon, eggs, toast, avocados and coffee, and a round of superheros with Alistair. Great way to round out the week.

Total: 112.5 miles (18,000')

So another strong week. Trained straight through Salida, which meant I toed the line with a pretty tired pair of pins. I'm at a stage of the building process right now (week three) where the legs are tired and generally lethargic for a majority of my runs. This is pretty standard, especially with the big vert I have been putting in of late, but if history is any guide that fog will soon lift and I should be holding this volume quite easily after a another week or two.

Already this week, I can feel some of that strength in my legs that I was feeling in May and June of last year. The recovery from Salida was an excellent example of this. I don't think I totally maxed my effort there, but I was certainly going hard enough that recovery was a concern. For my run on Sunday, however, lethargy was really the only factor in play as there was very little soreness. To me, this ease of recovery suggests that my legs are adapting well to the load and should be rock solid for the bomber Western States descents come June. If I can stay healthy, I'm starting to feel good about my chances there.

Moving right along. We had a record turnout of 34 runners for the Towers TT on Thursday, which was great to see. Times have been updated. Hopefully we'll build on these numbers through the spring and maybe get a few 50-runner turnouts come peak season. Pete and I have been tossing around the idea of an official Towers up and down 10k race for spring of next year: your slowest and fastest 5k in the same race. Seems like it could be a fun event.

Speaking of Fort Collins Trail Runner events, Alex May has a little something brewing for this Saturday. Giddy from the success and fun of our winter shindig, Alex will be hosting the March Mileage Madness Horsetooth Circumnavigation. Starting from his house near Pineridge, there will be three 'official' routes (9, 23 and 34 miles). For those training for spring marathons, the 23 mile route can be adapted to yield a run that is mainly asphalt by replacing the Foothills section with Centennial roads. However, the official 23 & 34 mile routes will avoid asphalt at all possible opportunity for a total of only 6 or 7 miles of pavement. The 34-mile route will head up into the Horsetooth/Lory hills on the west side of the reservoir for the ultra-inclined among us, whereas the 23-mile route will stick to the traditional valley trails.

Teammates Scott Jaime, Tim Olson, Josh Brimhall and Darcy Africa are off to Washington state this weekend to run the Chuckanutt 50k, and I have to say the field is loaded with talent (especially on the men's side). To date, this is far and away the race of the year and it should be interesting to see how it plays out. Tim is coming off a strong 4th place run at Way Too Cool this last weekend, which is certainly not optimal for Chuckanutt, but I still expect him, Scott and Josh to run well. I count 10-15 guys who should have a shot at the podium. Not sure how many of them will be beaten by Ellie Greenwood, but I'd bet that at least a few will.

And finally, I've always wanted to go to Kyrgyzstan, and now that they've named a peak after Vladimir Putin, I'm even more excited at the prospect. A summit of Mt. Vlad is now firmly on the bucket list.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Some races you just keep on going back to, and the Salida 'Run Through Time' Marathon is one of those for me. This weekend was my third consecutive year running Salida and, I am happy to report, my third consecutive PR.

So this year, with fantastic weather in the forecast, I brought the family with me. This meant a nice hotel room - as opposed to the back of the truck - a fun afternoon at the Salida hot springs pool and a night of earache torment for poor Alistair. Needless to say, it was not my best pre-race night of sleep, but as a parent (and an ultrarunner) you gotta roll with the punches. And anyway, as I have come to learn, a poor night's sleep before a race is by no means a valid excuse for a bad race. I'm pretty sure, in fact, that my better race performances have come on the back of hours of tossing and turning and endless clock checks than they have after 8 hours of undisturbed shut eye. So anyway, I rolled into packet pick-up and the pre-race briefing in the morning pretty un-enthused about the task ahead, but happy to see and catch up with many familiar faces.

Salida has become one of those great local races that brings in the hardcore trail crowd, in addition to a pretty strong field. This year was no exception. I knew beforehand that Timmy Parr was going to be running and looking for the three-peat, on advice from Burch who would be running his sixth (of six renditions). Brendan Trimboli had also advised that he was in, and then at the pre-race meeting I was surprised to see Geoff Roes lurking in the shadows, but less surprised to see Dan Vega who is a regular fixture at Salida. Marco Peinada and Brooks Williams were both there looking for redemption from last year, and JT was also in attendance to log his sixth start, in company with a large CRUD contingent. Unfortunately Nick Pedatella didn't make it out, as he was nursing a bum ankle, but the field still looked strong, so I knew I'd have my work cut out if I wanted to get on the podium.

From the off, a small pack formed, but unlike years prior there were no half marathon rabbits to chase through the early going, so it was me, Timmy and Ryan up front with a few others close behind as we made our way out to the Ute Trail county road that would take us up to the 10.5 mile, 9,100' turnaround an hour and a quarter later.

Once you get on the Ute Trail climb, two miles in, it is approximately six miles and 1,800 feet to the Turret Road turn on a gravely dirt road that follows a wash up into the hills above the Arkansas River valley. This is one of my all-time favorite race climbs as the grade is at that perfect in-between point where you can run fast and get a good pant going without feeling like you're digging yourself an early grave for the rest of the race, which, while mainly downhill, should absolutely not be underestimated.

As we settled into the climb, Timmy and I built some separation on the rest of the field, but before long I decided to ease off the gas letting Timmy go as I found an effort level that seemed wise and appropriate. As we pushed on up, I heard footfalls a few meters back, and at one of the many twists in the road I shot a look back to see that it was Dan Vega sitting as he had last year close behind me. At this point - a few miles into the race - there was nobody else in sight. Timmy was 20-30 seconds up on me here, which is essentially where he would stay until the end of the climb, while Dan was equidistant behind in a position that he too would maintain through to the turn.

So by mile eight and the Turret Road left, it was Timmy, me and Dan running 1,2 & 3 across a two-minute span. The views of the mighty Collegiate Peaks at the high point of the race, a couple miles down the road, were as stunning as always on this beautiful bluebird morning and it was all smiles as I passed Timmy on his way back from the turnaround (which had been moved a couple miles in from Turret to accommodate a new stretch of singletrack at the end of the race). As previously described, Dan was a minute or so back on me, while Ryan was a further couple of minutes back on Dan, followed by a procession of runners from there.

By the mile-14 (ish) turn on to the jeep track return off the Ute Trail, it looked like I had closed on Timmy a bit and maybe extended my gap on Dan. Seeing that I was within striking distance of Tim, I began to think that I might have a rare shot at taking him down, and continued to feel that way as I kept him in sight through the next couple of miles of rolling double track. However, after a while, the glimpses of Timmy dried up, while Dan looked like he might be making up ground, which led to the obvious conclusion that I was slowing. I knew here that I needed to get some calories in, having consumed just one gel early in the climb, but I just couldn't be bothered with it. The sun was strong on this morning and the thought of gel was just not a good one, so I decided here that I'd see what I could do on fat reserves and water alone.

As we made our way on to the new six-mile section of singletrack at mile 20, I hadn't caught sight of Timmy in quite some time and I had pretty much given up on catching him - and didn't really care anyway - while Dan was essentially on my shoulder. The trail was stellar and I immediately got a boost from that and felt way more comfortable than I had on the hideously loose and rocky jeep track descent that we had previously been negotiating. However, the trail was exceptionally twisty and very narrow, which slowed the pace considerably. In addition, there were a couple of real grunters early in this section that reduced the pace to close to a hike. I had been suffering for a bit by the time we hit the steepest of the climbs and I told Dan, who was now just a few strides behind me, to jump by whenever he was ready, but pretty much as soon as I said that he began to fade and through the remainder of the twisty turny descent I rebuilt the gap on Dan to a minute or two. This thankfully meant that I wouldn't have to engage in a late-race battle for second, and I was able to cruise to the finish in 3:08:55 and a 10-minute course PR.

All pics pilfered from Burch's website.

Dan finished up 60-90 seconds behind me in third, suggesting that he has found some good early season form, while Ryan was a few minutes behind Dan in fourth. Sean O'Day had a good run for fifth and Brendan 'Solar Weasel' Trimboli was solid in sixth. I was also super stoked for occasional training partner and friend Aaron Marks who ran 4:00:00, having set an 'A' goal of breaking 4 hours. After hanging around waiting for JT to finish, I got bored and headed back to the hotel for a shower. By the time I got back he still wasn't finished, which means I beat the handicap by more than an hour in our two-race wager despite his strong showing in New Orleans. Something about stopping for a beer break at mile 20.

To cap off a great weekend, it was off to Ryan's aunt's place for a fabulous Irish feast of corned beef, cabbage, boiled veg, fabulous home-baked breads and thoroughly enjoyable company.

Monday, March 7, 2011

I'm just 2 for 4 on Towers sessions this year, but life on the Big Hill has - apparently - been going on without me. Updated times and statistics below. Omissions, mistakes, etc? Let me know.

Thursday will be your last chance until next winter (this one is over as far as I am concerned) to take on the night version of the hill. Currently, the conditions underfoot are most excellent; however, there appears to be a winter storm in the forecast for tonight so the conditions could quite conceivably be terrible by Thursday. Either way, we run.

Total: 745 miles (85,050')Avg: 372.5 miles (42,525')---------------------------------------------------Tues - AM: 7 miles intervals. Met Jane's group for a cemetery workout: mile; 2(3x800) w/20 seconds between reps, 4 mins between sets; mile. After 1.5 mile warm up, workout went: 5:19; 2:37, 2:41, 2:47; 2:39, 2:43, 2:47; 5:13. Tough workout for 7 in the morning. Couldn't hang on to the 800s with the short rest, which was disappointing, but the miles were encouraging. Beautiful out again.Noon: 9 miles (2,300') easy. Horsetooth/Audra long. Tired legs, went super easy.

Thurs - AM: 10 miles (1,400') tempo. Out and back to 5 mile mark on HTH course from Maxwell with Scott and Sarah. Out easy in 41:08, then back in 32:06: 7:55 (up north dam hill), 6:15, 6:32, 5:50, 5:32. Legs felt tight, so didn't push as hard as planned but definitely felt like I got a good tempo effort in.PM: 6.5 miles easy with FCTR group.

Sat - AM: 31.5 miles (7,600') long. 5:37. Chubby Cheeks course with Ryan. Nice overcast morning for this, my longest run of 2011. I had originally emailed Ryan to see if he wanted to get in on an AR50 type run with 12 miles at tempo on the roads followed by 20 miles of trail. His response was less than enthusiastic, so we opted for The Chubster, which I actually hadn't run in its entirety. We ran the whole thing at a steadily comfortable pace, just plugging away in the same gear the whole way around. Lower sections of Mill Creek had some pretty sketchy luge runs, as did north-facing Timber and the frozen abyss that is Well Gulch, but I stayed upright the whole run despite having to dance a bit in places to do so. Most everything else was clear. Run time was close to 5:20, but we stopped on both summits and at the Visitors Center for extended periods. Felt strong the whole way round, which was nice, especially as this was my first run over 4 hours in quite some time. Looking forward to letting rip on the course at the end of the year.

This was an enjoyable week of reconnecting with my local trails and just getting out and running a bunch of vertical. I also got out for a couple of quality turnover sessions Tuesday and Thursday, and was reasonably encouraged with the way those went. For anyone interested in getting in on these excellent workouts, Jane's group meets Tuesday morning at 7:15 in City Park by the golf course parking area, while the Thursday morning hill tempo group meets at Maxwell at 5:45 (yeah, I know).

More of the same next week, with maybe a light day Friday in preparation for the Salida Marathon, one of my favorite local events on the calendar. I am hearing that the event is close to being sold out, so register now if you're procrastinating on that one.

I filled in a few of the blanks for May this week by signing up for the Jemez 50, where I'll be looking to defend my crown, and also Collegiate Peaks 25 where I'll mainly be looking to get a quality long run done.Towers time trial this Thursday from Soderberg at 6:00 as usual. From what I hear, things got a little epic with a mid-run blizzard last time out, but having run up Towers three times this week, I can report that conditions are currently 90% clear which means the track should be in close-to-PR shape come Thursday, the last headlight session of the year. I'm a bit behind on updating times from the last two sessions, but should have that covered later tonight.